I have a small wireless network at home consisting of one desktop computer (this one is wired into my network), two laptops, several pocket pcs, a UMPC, and a visiting laptop (from work).  The computers run a combination of XP home edition, XP tablet edition, and XP Media Center. (NOTE: none of the computers run Vista or XP Professional) 

Some months ago, something in my wireless network broke down.  I realized that I could no longer see my computers on my network from my laptop and vice versa.  Furthermore, I could no longer access shared drives from my Pocket PCs and I could not print to shared printers from the Pocket PCs.  I played around with the rudimentary setup and got no satisfaction.  I realized that working through and trouble shooting the issue would be a time consuming exercise, so I put it off for another time.  In the meantime, I've been hobbling along with thumb drives and SD cards. 

Whenever I attempted to gain access to a networked computer from my Pocket PCs, all I got was a blank screen on the Pocket PCs.  When I attempted to gain access to a networked computer from any other computer on my network, I got the following message:

"XXXXX name is not accessible.  You may not have permission to use this network resource..."

Recently after attempting to help another guy troubleshoot his network share issue, I was inspired to get to the bottom of things...I was on a mission to fix my broken network, so I spent several hours googling around the internet and eventually "fixed" my problem.  Here's what I found/tried and what ultimately worked on my network:

Turn off firewall

At the advice of a friend who works for Intel, I turned the firewalls off on all my computers when I installed my wireless router several years ago.  My router includes a firewall and so running another firewall on my computers is overkill.  Unless I am using public WIFI, I don't worry too much about security threats (the firewall is turned on when I surf the internet out in the public).

Make sure all computers on the network are in the same workgroup

Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > System icon > Computer Name tab > Verify that the Workgroup is the same for all computers on the network.  If the workgroup is different, you can change this by selecting the Change button

Ping the computers on the network to see if they find each other

First find the IP address, for each computer on the network.  You can find the IP address through the Network Connections screen or  by issuing an IPCONFIG command from the command prompt.

• Through the Network Connections screen
  • Open up the Network Connections on the computer
  • Highlight the Wireless Network Connection
  • Look in the Details box on the lower left hand side of the computer and you'll see the IP Address there.

• Issue IPCONFIG command through the Command prompt
  • Select Start > Run > COMMAND
  • Type "IPCONFIG" to get each computer's IP address

Then from each computer on the network Ping every other computer on the network

• Select Start > Run > COMMAND
• Type "PING xxx.xxx.x.xx" (insert IP address of a computer on your network).   

All of my networked computers found each other when I pinged them.

Turn on the Guest Account for each computer on the network (1)

Apparently for windows XP home edition computers, all network connections are mapped through the Guest account.  If the Guest account is disabled, the connection will be denied.  I had turned off the Guest accounts on my computers so they would boot directly up without having to choose an account..oh well.

1. Logon to each computer as the administrator
2. Click Start > Run > type "control userpasswords", then click OK
3. Double-click User Accounts to open the User Accounts dialog box
4. Click Guest and then click Turn on the Guest Account
5. Close the User Accounts dialog box

Even after turning the Guest Accounts back on, I was still unable to see my networked computers from any other computer on the network.

Change registry item on Computer (2)

I checked this registry setting, but the registry settings on each of my computers was already set up this way.

1. Click Start > Run > type "regedit" in the window > click OK
2. Locate HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Double click the "restrictanonymous" key and change value to 0.  Click OK
4. Close Registry Editor and restart computer

Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and start the Computer Browser service (3)

My computers were all set to the default setting, which seemed fine to me, but I changed anyway.  I don't really think using the default setting caused my problem, but I have not yet changed it back to the default setting to see if it makes any difference.

• Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP
  • Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections icon
  • Right Click the Wireless Network Connection > select Properties
  • Find and Click the "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Option > click Properties button

  

  • General tab > Advanced button

• WINS tab > Select the "Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP" option.  Click OK > OK > Close

• Start the Computer Browser service
  1. Click Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services (or you can open up Control Panel > Administrative Tools icon > Services)
  2. Right-click Computer Browser > select Start
  3. Close Computer Management window

Before closing the Computer Management window check some other administrative services and change them as described in the next section.

Adjust other Administrative Services (4)

Check and change the following administrative services to make sure they are Started and their startup type is Automatic.  Click Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services (or open up the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools icon > Services)  and Start them (right-click on each one and select Properties.  While you here change the Startup type to Automatic.

Check and change the settings to "Started" and "Automatic" for each of these services:

• Computer Browser (addressed above)
• DHCP Client
• DNS Client
• Network Connections
• Network Location Awareness
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Server
• TCP/IP Netbios helper
• Workstation

I set all these items to "Started" and "Automatic" and still could not see the computers on my network.

Install NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol

DING, DING, DING, DING, DING!  This is what fixed the problem for most of my computers!

• Click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections icon
• Right Click the Wireless Network Connection > Properties

• Select the Install button > Protocol > Add button

• Select NWLink IPX/SPX/NetBIOS Compatible Transport Protocol > OK > OK

I'm not sure what this protocol is or how it is used to communicate with the other computers on my network, but I'm happy!  II can now see all my computers on my network from any other computer on the network and I can access all but two computers from my Pocket PCs - strangely enough these are the two computers that I use exclusively.  I'll need to review the settings in the computers comparing them to the settings of the computers that I have no problems with to see if I can figure out what the problem is.  Any ideas?

References

1. Microsoft Help & Support:  You receive an "Access is denied" error message when you try to access shares on a Windows XP Home Edition-based computer that is connected to a network
2. Microsoft Help & Support:  Error message when you try to access a Windows XP-based network computer:  "You might not have permission to use this network resource"
3. Microsoft Help & Support:  You cannot access shared files and folders or browse computers in the workgroup with Windows XP
4. Tech Support Guy forum:  I can't get file sharing not work on my homeportal router (John Will, Microsoft MVP)

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